Aquila Theatre Company makes its Carpenter Performing Arts Center debut with a contemporary take on Oscar Wilde’s hilarious and witty classic The Importance of Being Earnest on Saturday, March 31, 2012 on the campus of Cal State Long Beach.

The Importance of Being Earnest has been entertaining audiences with its razor-sharp wit, sublime elegance and high farce for over 100 years. First premiering at the St. James Theatre in London’s West End on Valentine’s Day, 1895, the play tells the tale of Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff, both young men who have taken to bending the truth to add a dash of excitement to their lives. However, their deceptions eventually cross paths, resulting in a series of hilarious discoveries that threaten to spoil their romantic pursuits.

The New Yorker describes Aquila Theatre productions as “beautifully spoken, dramatically revealing and crystalline in effect.” Founded in London in 1991 by Peter Meineck, the company’s mission is to bring the greatest theatrical works to the greatest number, and presents a regular season of plays in New York and at international festivals. Now based in New York City since 1999, theatre education programming has become an important component of Aquila Theatre’s mission, and has developed The Shakespeare Leaders—a bold and innovative program which students learn and perform Shakespeare in Harlem and the Bronx.

Aquila Theatre has gone on to win popular, critical and academic acclaim worldwide and regularly appears at international festivals with performances in places as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the Ancient Stadium at Delphi, The Los Angeles Cathedral Plaza and the White House. A few of their past productions that have gone on tour include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, and The Odyssey, among others.

Tickets for Aquila Theatre Company: The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde are on sale for $45, with discounts for students and seniors. For group rates or special seating request, contact the ticket office at (562) 985-7000 or visit www.CarpenterArts.org. This presentation is made possible in part by Season Media Partner KPCC 89.3FM.